This type of sculpture, with the Christ Child seated in the Virgin’s lap in a frontal pose, is known as a Throne of Wisdom (Sedes Sapientiae). This seemingly straightforward image conveys complex theological ideas. Christ, as the Son of God, is Wisdom incarnate. Mary, who carried Christ in her womb and who holds him on her lap, serves as his seat, or throne. Christ would have grasped a Bible, a further representation of the divine wisdom that he himself embodies. Beginning about 1100, Mary was increasingly revered as a nurturing, merciful intercessor. Such statues of her were used as devotional objects and may have been carried in church processions. This sculpture probably functioned as a container for holy relics, as it has a cavity located behind the Virgin’s shoulder.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Art Treasures of the Metropolitan: A Selection from the European and Asiatic Collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1952. no. 37, pp. 46, 48, 50, 220, fig. 37.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Guide to the Collections: Medieval Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1962. fig. 42.

Folda, J. "Icon to Altarpiece in the Frankish East: Images of the Virgin and Child Enthroned." In Italian Panel Painting of the Duecento and Trecento. Studies in the History of Art, Vol. 61. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 2002. p. 134.

Boehm, Barbara Drake. "'To Learned People this May Seem to Be Full of Superstition': Reliquary Sculpture in the Medieval Christian Tradition." In Eternal Ancestors: The Art of the Central African Reliquary. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2007. p. 92, fig. 52.

Leona, Marco, and Roald Hoffmann. "Microanalysis of Organic Pigments and Glazes in Polychrome Works of Art by Surface-Enhanced Resonance Raman Scattering." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 106, no. 35 (September 1, 2009). pp. 14757, 14759-61, fig. 4.

Ambrose, Kirk. "'Cunningly Hidden': Invisible and Forgotten Relics in the Romanesque Work of Art." In Medieval and Early Modern Devotional Objects in Global Perspective: Translations of the Sacred. New Middle Ages. New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2010. p. 81, fig. 5.2.